Will Gop Is In Line For A Hard Primary

County Exec Fight To Be Main Event

Last-minute filings reshaped campaigns of Will County candidates Monday, but the brightest spotlight still shines on a battle for the GOP nomination for county executive.

More than 100 political hopefuls lined up to beat a 4:30 p.m. deadline for filing petitions for the March 17 primary, according to County Clerk Clara Hartley Woodard.

With the last-minute filings, Democratic primary contests emerged in two of six countywide races and in three of nine County Board districts. On the Republican side, primaries were set for two countywide races and six board districts.

The most visible race will be between County Board Majority Leader John Annerino of Bolingbrook and Gary Orler of Frankfort for the GOP nomination for county executive. The winner will face Democrat Charles Adelman in November.

Annerino, County Board chairman until he was defeated by Adelman in 1988, is facing a former County Board member with whom he often has been at odds.

With the campaign only a few days old, Annerino last week questioned Orler`s party loyalty and noted that Orler failed to win re-election in his own County Board district.

``He doesn`t have support in his own back yard,`` Annerino said.

Orler charges that Annerino, the county GOP chairman who has never won a countywide race, has little support other than from party regulars.

``He (Annerino) has backing in two townships, Du Page and Crete, and I have support in the rest,`` Orler asserted.

While Adelman has been spared a primary contest, he can expect a fierce challenge from whoever wins the Republican primary.

Both Annerino and Orler are polishing financial and anti-tax themes they hope to use against Adelman in November.

But Adelman says he is ready with his own figures on county finances and foresees a bloody GOP primary before either Annerino or Orler can turn the guns on him.

``They really don`t like each other,`` Adelman said. ``It`s going to be a very dirty fight.``

Republicans also are battling over their party`s nomination for circuit clerk.

Four Republicans have filed for the court office, including incumbent Helen Harshbarger, who has been absent for more than two months with an undisclosed illness, and Karen A. Callanan, a current County Board member from Plainfield.

Robert P. Burke of Joliet and Sharon Boyd of New Lenox complete the Republican field. Joliet Township Clerk Stanley B. Waznis has filed on the Democratic side.

In County Board races, all 27 seats are up for election next year because of redistricting that followed the 1990 federal census. Each of the nine districts will elect three commissioners.

Both parties hope to make gains on the County Board, where fairly frequent attempts are made to override Adelman vetos.

Until November 1990, Republicans held the 17 votes needed to override Adelman, but Democratic gains then trimmed their majority to 15-12.

Democrats have a primary fight shaping up in District 8, on the east side of Joliet, where three incumbents face four challengers, and in District 9, on the city`s west side, where three incumbents face three challengers.

In addition, Democratic primaries are set for coroner, where incumbent Duane A. Krieger is facing a challenge from funeral director Patrick K. O`Neil of Lockport, and for auditor, where Richard Stringham is paired off against Daniel J. Maher, a retired accountant from Joliet.

Stringham is a County Board member whose Homer Township District 7 took on a decidedly Republican cast in the redistricting.

On the Republican side, there are contests in District 2, which covers Frankfort and New Lenox; District 3, covering Romeoville and Crest Hill;

District 4, covering Du Page Township; District 5, covering Plainfield and far northwest Joliet; District 6, covering six townships in southwestern Will County; and District 7, which covers Homer Township and part of Lockport Township.